ROSH HASHANA

Changing the Decree on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur

In many congregations, the following phrase from the liturgy is one of the repeated themes for both Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur: “Repentance, Prayer and Charity change the evil of the decree” (“T’shuva, Tephilah, and Tzedakah maverin et Roeh HaGezerah”). This means ostensibly that if a difficult decree has been declared upon a person he may change it through one of these three avenues: repentance, prayer, or charity. It is interesting that we the study of Torah is not mentioned in this statement.

 Why not? The study of Torah is considered by the sages to be equal to all the other mitzvoth. Indeed if Torah is considered equal or greater than all other mitzvoth, shouldn’t it be included in the formula for annulling an evil decree? A futher question is that the Hebrew words Roeh HaGezerah do not really mean “evil decree” but the “evil of the decree”. What we are capable of changing is not the decree, but the evil which is within the decree.  As an example, a decree may be that a person is to be rich or poor. But this is not of itself good or bad. A person may be poor but enjoy good health and have no expenses, so being poor is not necessarily bad for him. Another may become wealthy and have health problems coupled with financial worries and tax problems from the government. Therefore, when we say, “Roeh HaGezerah”, we refer not to an evil decree, but the evil that is within the decree. We cannot change the decree, but we can change the manner in which the decree becomes manifest. Why do these three things, Repentance, Prayer and Charity, effect a change?  If a king were to issue a harsh decree upon a servant who behaved improperly, the servant could do three things to avert this punishment. First, the servant could try to speak to the king directly in order to try to change the king’s attitude towards him. This is like prayer. Through our prayer we can reach directly to G-d and request that He change His decree.  The second mode is through repentance. The errant servant can apologize and express his regret to the king and vow never to repeat his folly. Repentance should not be understood as merely feeling regret for a misdeed. Rather it encompasses a change of the person’s direction in life. In this manner, the person is saying in effect, “Look at me, I am not the same person. I am different now so the punishment is unnecessary.” The third method is that of giving charity. If the first two methods of changing the bad decree were by changing the principals involved, charity is like the servant taking from his own time and money and doing the kings work.